Newcastle Struck From Tiger Routes

The Age

Thursday June 12, 2008

Mathew Murphy, Aviation Reporter

TIGER Airways will cut its underperforming daily service between Melbourne and Newcastle in August.

Only seven months after launching its Australian operations, Tiger has said it would need to reallocate resources to meet demand.

"This has resulted in some unforeseen changes to the schedule, including suspending services to Newcastle from August 11, 2008," said Tiger spokesman Matt Hobbs.

Passengers who have booked will be able to choose an alternative destination or date without additional charges, or receive a full refund. Tiger will use the excess capacity to increase its flights from Melbourne to Adelaide from two to three times a week and from Melbourne to Canberra from once to twice a week.

Tiger had hoped its Newcastle service would be useful to some Sydney-bound passengers after the airline was unable to secure a deal to fly to Sydney. Mr Hobbs said Tiger would not rule out restarting talks with Sydney Airport.

Tiger's main rival, Jetstar, has increased its flights from Melbourne to Newcastle from twice daily to three times a day. Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the budget carrier would offer stranded Tiger passengers on cancelled Melbourne-Newcastle services a $50 travel voucher if they flew with Jetstar.

Newcastle Airport spokesman David Nye said that while he was disappointed at Tiger's decision it was "only a minor setback for the airport".

Despite industry speculation that Tiger's Rockhampton and Darwin services could be the next to go, Mr Hobbs said the airline had no plans to suspend other services.

© 2008 The Age

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